Groundcover (Powered by The Guild)
Summary
Groundcover is a fund & initiative of The Guild creating community-owned and governed real estate in Black communities by incubating and investing in models such as Community Stewardship Trusts.
Description
Groundcover aims to seed, develop, and scale cooperative real estate models that support Black communities, prevent displacement, and build power and self-determination through collective land ownership.
The Community Stewardship Trusts (CST) is a concept developed by The Guild to enable community residents to become investors and incrementally buy back the equity in local properties at below market rate. It is a community wealth building vehicle that provides an entry point for organized, friendly capital to acquire community assets and transfers them into ownership by the community; helping build assets and equity for communities otherwise excluded from wealth-building opportunities.
Residents in a zipcode can participate in the financial upside of development in their own community by investing anywhere from $10 to upwards of $100/month which is converted into shares that buy back the equity on the properties in the CST at below-market rate. Upon the project’s completion, even before the community has purchased all of the equity, the CST will have governing authority over the property.
Social media links
LinkedIn: Zachary Murray
Articles and media
https://www.loom.com/share/2fd6d4b740094221948e39f732831f8f
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/what-would-equitable-real-estate-finance-look-like/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGL6pHQ08GE8OAMk9tv8ErrffOipgmJC/view
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/business/black-neighborhoods-history-revitalization.html
If you have a market-based or policy-based innovation or are interested in supporting change, connect with us!